Jered Weaver tinkers with success

Mark Saxon covers the St. Louis Cardinals for ESPN.com. He served as the Dodgers team reporter for ESPNLosAngeles.com. through the 2015 season. He spent six years at the Orange County Register, and began his career at the Oakland Tribune, where he started an 11-year journey covering Major League Baseball. He has also covered colleges, including USC football and UCLA basketball.

Jered Weaver is trying to add a cutter to his pitching arsenal. Jeff Golden/Getty Images

Jered Weaver is working on a new pitch, a cutter, this spring. One of Weaver's teammates, Dan Haren, happens to have one of the best cutters in the league and the two have been playing catch in recent weeks, Weaver trying to learn the pitch from his fellow right-hander.

"I'd like to create a cutter, but it's not coming along too good right now," Weaver said.

Weaver uses his changeup and slider as secondary pitches to a low-90s fastball, but has added a sinker in the past couple of years. The cutter has a motion similar to a slider, but instead of looping, it runs and is typically thrown with more velocity. Since the rise of Mariano Rivera, the cutter has been the most fashionable pitch of this generation.

Other than a faltering attempt at adding the new pitch, Weaver intends to take it slowly this spring. He signed a five-year, $85 million extension in August and was married in November.

"I don't think I have to prove myself to make the team this year," he said.